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I am a beginner with Linux and I had a bad inspiration to try a quick Ubuntu installation without reading properly about it first.

I found a tutorial and have installed Ubuntu on my laptop (Gateway NV56R30u) alongside preinstalled Windows 8. I made a recovery disk first of my Windows 8 and saved it on a 8GB USB flash drive (it used 2.6 GB of it).

The installation of Ubuntu went flawlessly. After reboot it started with that screen with Ubuntu logo on it, but no GRUB screen as expected, where there should have been the option to choose between Windows and Ubuntu. I tried to find a solution for my problem and found that I need a Boot Repair. I used boot repair several attempts but it partially solved my problem. I now start with a GRUB welcome screen, but there is still no option to choose Windows.

enter image description here

Here you can also see my Boot Repair report.

Analyzing what I've done wrong I found that I made a huge mistake with partitioning. I have a 1TB HDD, which I have partitioned as shown in the below screenshot. I believe I am the only idiot on this planet who has ever done this.

partitions

I could use the recovery drive to backup Windows, but I've got these questions, which may look stupid, but I would appreciate some good answers:

  1. How bad can affect my data from HDD my "genius" way of partitioning? Is it reversible?
  2. Considering the way I have done the partitioning, if I decide to use the recovery drive to repair Windows, what are my chances to have a good result, without losing all my data? I think it's a pipe dream.

I have searched lots of forums and I realized that the TestDisk application may help me to figure out if I have messed up my hard disk. After using TestDisk I've got some results (you can see them in this image gallery), but I don't really know how to interpret them.

Ideally I would have these priorities to solve this problem:

  • Plan A: It would be great to make the dual boot work, so I could use both systems.
  • Plan B: In case plan A fails, I then prefer to come back to Windows and to be able to recover at least drive D (with the most important data) and C, if possible.
  • Plan C: To recover the major part of my data.
karel
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Marcel
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  • The link to your Boot Repair report is broken. This is unfortunate because it would help to understand what happened to your old Windows 8 partition. Please upload your latest Boot Repair report again and provide a new link to it in a comment or by editing your own question. – karel Feb 19 '18 at 05:53

1 Answers1

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Unfortunately it looks like the problem was that during the install you formatted Windows off the drive. In your Gparted image here notice there is no partition marked as Microsoft or Windows. Not seeing the grub menu on boot is the standard behaviour for a system that only has Ubuntu installed on it. It looks like you will need to restore your Windows and install Ubuntu again. During the install process for Ubuntu you are given an option to install alongside your existing operating system.

Zanna
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Robsteady
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  • Dear Robsteady, thank you for your feedback! I have noticed that as well and this is because I have chosen during installation "something else"...I would re-install Windows, but I need to figure out how to recover my data first. I ran a TestDisk (http://imgur.com/a/2ye1V#0), but I don't know what do do next. I asked some advice from a specialized forum for that. Great thanks! – Marcel Jan 02 '15 at 11:28